Our Approach

It is important for The Coca-Cola Company to address agricultural challenges and opportunities systemwide and across our entire value chain. Approximately half of what the Coca-Cola system spends on inputs to our products and packaging is an agricultural spend, linking us closely with agricultural communities worldwide.

There are many aspects to consider, including rising demand of key commodities, women’s empowerment, economic development, water management, human and labor rights, and energy and climate impacts. The need to understand the interconnected relationships among all of these topic areas has led to the conclusion that the most effective approach to address sustainable agriculture is through the development of an integrated Water-Energy-Food Nexus approach.

Four areas that we will focus on as part of this approach are

Embedding sustainability into ingredient-procurement decisions.

Developing and implementing crop-specific programs to enhance the economic well-being of farming communities, improve yields and protect natural resources across the supply chain.

Building industrywide collaborations to gain alignment and affect change in the agricultural sector.

Driving change through partnerships.

We will continue to convene workshops for suppliers and farmers to provide information about opportunities to work with us and to take part in our programs and projects. Some of our near-term sustainable agriculture objectives include

Engaging our suppliers is an essential component of our multifaceted approach. Our Sustainable Agriculture Guiding Principles (SAGP) help define what “more sustainable sourcing” means to us and outline our expectations for suppliers in the areas of human and workplace rights, environmental stewardship and responsible farm management.

Building on these principles, we have developed a new Supplier Engagement Program, which gives guidance to our suppliers on various pathways to achieve SAGP compliance. This comprehensive program applies to all geographies and covers the key commodities and ingredients used to produce our products.

We believe that sustainable agriculture is in our collective best interest, ensuring improved environmental health, economic profitability and inclusion. For example, the global purchasing power of the Coca-Cola system allows us to apply our leverage and resources to support partnership initiatives and programs that seek to address universal and local social, political, environmental and other sustainability challenges.

We are working hard to create positive, long-term impact. As our strategy and activities evolve, we will continue to highlight our progress.

Our Agricultural Supply Chain Journey

In 2013, we began a journey to better understand the key human rights risks for Coca-Cola’s extensive agricultural supply chain, and we knew we would learn a lot. We also knew that it would require significant collaboration with our suppliers, bottlers and key stakeholders to carefully examine these risks and to better prevent potential future violations.

Our third-party country sugar studies on child labor, forced labor and land rights have served as important vehicles to build an understanding of Company policies internally and a framework to undertake action in collaboration with our supply chain partners. Thus far, we have developed in-depth studies examining potential human rights impacts throughout its sugar supply chain in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and Brazil. We will continue to release additional studies throughout the year, including our work in Brazil, India, Mexico and several other countries in Africa.

This work advances the company’s longstanding commitment to driving transparency, accountability and sustainability throughout its business system and supply chain in close collaboration with bottlers, suppliers and stakeholder partners. Coca-Cola’s Human Rights Policy and Supplier Guiding Principles (SGP) provide the foundation for this commitment, which extends deep into the agricultural supply chain where many key ingredients in the company’s products originate. Promoting sustainability throughout the supply chain begins with going straight to the source to assess environmental and social impacts. This effort will take time, and Coca-Cola is working in collaboration with its bottling partners, suppliers and others to help bring about the development of a healthy agricultural supply chain for the communities in which it operates.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, offering over 500 brands to people in more than 200 countries. Of our 21 billion-dollar brands, 19 are available in lower- or no-sugar options to help people moderate their consumption of added sugar. In addition to our namesake Coca-Cola drinks, some of our leading brands around the world include: AdeS soy-based beverages, Ayataka green tea, Dasani waters, Del Valle juices and nectars, Fanta, Georgia coffee, Gold Peak teas and coffees, Honest Tea, Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks, Simply juices, smartwater, Sprite, vitaminwater, and Zico coconut water. At Coca-Cola, we’re serious about making positive contributions to the world. That starts with reducing sugar in our drinks and continuing to introduce new ones with added benefits. It also means continuously working to reduce our environmental impact, creating rewarding careers for our associates and bringing economic opportunity wherever we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people around the world.

The fairlife® brand is owned by fairlife, LLC, our joint venture with Select Milk Producers, Inc., and fairlife’s products are distributed by our Company and certain of our bottling partners.